Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico

From KOB-TV.com - by Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - State lawmakers will wrap up their sixty day session on Saturday, but the odds are they will be back in a special session. Gov. Susana Martinez says she will veto the budget bill and call lawmakers back in to come up with another one. Senate Finance Committee chairman John Arthur Smith said talks continue with the Martinez administration, but there is no deal at this point. Martinez can't live with the budget that lawmakers crafted. Among other things, it leaves out $3 million in extra pay for outstanding teachers. Martinez also wants bigger tax cuts for businesses. New Mexico's corporate income tax rate is the highest in the region.
"What the legislature has to do is have the desire and have the courage to put our kids first and to put our economy first, especially with the federal sequestration cuts looming over us we have to diversify our economy," she said. Democratic lawmakers say they're stunned that they will have to comeback in a special session over a $3 million difference in a budget that totals almost $6 billion.
"The reality is that we would have to wait a couple weeks at least for people to go home and take care of any business, and then come back," said Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, an Albuquerque Democrat. "I don't think she would try to keep us here beyond Saturday, but I don't know. This is a Governor who doesn't disclose her information to us freely."
A special session will cost the taxpayers about $40,000 a day, and that's on top of the regular session that's costing New Mexican's more than $8 million. Look for a special session sometime before the middle of May. That's mainly because the public schools will need budgets in place so they can do contracts with teachers and buy books and equipment and supplies for the school year that starts in August. Read more

New Mexico lawmakers have approved a policy that could shield
legislators' email from disclosure through public records requests.

The new
legislative rule will govern how the Legislature handles requests under the
Inspection of Public Records Act, which grants access to records about public
business with certain exceptions, such as trade secrets.

Legislators contend
that much of their communication with constituents and others about legislation
should remain confidential. Some lawmakers use email through personal accounts
rather than a legislative email system.

The New Mexico Foundation for Open
Government opposes the new records policy and disagrees with lawmakers who
contend the state constitution provides special protections exempting
legislative email from public disclosure.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be in New Mexico to finalize the latest settlement of a
decades-long water rights battle in northern New Mexico.

The Interior Department says
Salazar will be meeting Thursday in Santa
Fe with pueblo leaders from Tesuque, Nambe, Pojoaque
and San Ildefonso.

The water rights settlement was one of four included in
legislation signed by President Barack Obama in 2011 that was aimed at
delivering clean drinking water to tribes in New Mexico,
Arizona and Montana.

Under the agreement, a regional
water system will be built to serve the four New Mexico pueblos and their neighbors. The
federal government, the state and Santa
FeCounty
will share the cost of building the system.

A proposal to improve the long-term finances of a
pension plan for state and local government workers has cleared the Legislature
and heads to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

The legislation would
change benefits offered by the Public Employees Retirement Association, which
has a $6 billion gap between its assets and the cost of future retirement
benefits.

The pension system covers nearly 90,000 state and local government
workers and retirees. If signed into law by the governor, the legislation would
lower yearly cost-of-living adjustments for pension benefits.

The measure also
would establish new retirement eligibility and benefits for employees hired
after July 1.